Engraved bricks to help riverfront

ELGIN — The city is paving the way to riverfront improvements by selling engraved bricks, trees, benches and streetlights along the Fox River.

The city and the citizens group Riverfront Action Committee are selling bricks for $50, trees and shrubs for $250, benches for $500 and streetlights for $1,000.

Patrons can also put their names on stone and steel gateways, an arbor, a pavilion or scenic overlooks above the spillway for price tags of $25,000 to $150,000.

The nearly $5.3 million first phase of the riverfront plan will add a riverwalk, an arbor, overlooks, parks and bridges. The project is funded in part by $3.5 million from the city's riverboat revenue, $1 million from Kane County and the county Forest Preserve District and $285,000 from the state, said Ray Moller, city economic development and business services director. Additional funds raised will help the city build future phases.

Mayor Ed Schock said he hopes that selling naming rights will build excitement and a sense of community.

"We want it to be more of a citywide project where people feel a part of it, that it belongs to them," he said.

Business people have pledged about $225,000 for naming rights for big projects, said committee Chairman Jack Shales. In the three weeks after the group began selling smaller items, people have bought naming rights to more than a dozen bricks, a tree and a few benches.